Firestone air bags

With 14lbs in the bags how does the rear sit compared to stock? Higher?


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Trick_Raptor said:

Looking at the airbags installed it will be interesting to see if they get damaged by flying rocks while off-road. Hopefully there will be some status updates on this as time goes on...

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Being that you offroad with your truck, this is probably not a good fit for you. Airbags won't hold up over time. A little sag is not a big deal. My truck sits a little lower in the rear when towing my travel trailer. Weight distribution hitch helps a lot too if you already don't have one.

Bigg50 said:

Being that you offroad with your truck, this is probably not a good fit for you. Airbags won't hold up over time. A little sag is not a big deal. My truck sits a little lower in the rear when towing my travel trailer. Weight distribution hitch helps a lot too if you already don't have one.

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Yeah I have given up on the bags myself. I don't tow my toybox enough to worry about the sag in the rear while towing.

SVC Gen 2 and Deavers are what I plan to go with early next year... once we get our kids massive U of H college bills down to reasonable levels...

Who neads colledge anyway?

2000 miles on them towing. I had about 700 lbs in the box and a tounge wt of about 250 lbs. Trailer is a 14' cargo and weighed around 2500 loaded. Pulled it at 75 going and pushed a bad head wind for at least 250 miles of it. Got 11.2 mpg. On the wat home, I had more time and never went over 70 and no head wind and it read 12.3 for the whole trip so coming home was a lot better on gas.

Towing with the bags was much better than the super springs I had last year. I put too much air in going, about 30 pounds. While I was there, I dropped the air to 22 pounds and it felt about right. I hit some very hard bridge transitions and nver bottomed although it felt close.

Right now, I would recommend them. I'm going to drive it with 22 andf see how it feels but I wll probably go back to 16.

Next test is tomorrow:
Car trailer with a JD crawler, front blade and a brush mower on it. That will be at least 6000 if not a bit more. It will only be a 20 mile tow but I will see how it handles.

Sage, any updates? And where did you get your kit?

I bought that kit also, but ended up sending it back. I couldn't even squeeze the bag and bracket into place without raising the rear of the truck with a floor jack. Once in place the bag was fully compressed without any air in it. I knew then that the kit wasn't for me, or wasn't designed quite right. Every other truck I've put Ride Rite bags on didn't affect the rear stance with the 10-15# air unloaded.

Raptoe13 said:

I bought that kit also, but ended up sending it back. I couldn't even squeeze the bag and bracket into place without raising the rear of the truck with a floor jack. Once in place the bag was fully compressed without any air in it. I knew then that the kit wasn't for me, or wasn't designed quite right. Every other truck I've put Ride Rite bags on didn't affect the rear stance with the 10-15# air unloaded.

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I'm not sure what you bought, but I didn't have any problems like that. Was it the Raptor specific air bag kit??

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As for towing a heavy load, I just pulled the crawler, 6000++lbs. I had 25lbs air and it leveled the truck nicely (the trailer was front heavy too). Towed great too with no problems even over a couple heavy bumps.

So far I think around 14-16lbs empty and 22-30 loaded.

No, I do not jump the truck. I did not buy it for that. I bought it for it's off road capabilities to use hunting and fishing. The Raptor was cheaper than getting a regular F150 with the stuff I wanted on it and even then had better capabilities.

Sage said:

I'm not sure what you bought, but I didn't have any problems like that. Was it the Raptor specific air bag kit??



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Yep. Absolutely designed for the Raptor. Had it in the instructions and everything. I was really hoping it would work though.

Sage said:

I'm not sure what you bought, but I didn't have any problems like that. Was it the Raptor specific air bag kit??

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As for towing a heavy load, I just pulled the crawler, 6000++lbs. I had 25lbs air and it leveled the truck nicely (the trailer was front heavy too). Towed great too with no problems even over a couple heavy bumps.

So far I think around 14-16lbs empty and 22-30 loaded.

No, I do not jump the truck. I did not buy it for that. I bought it for it's off road capabilities to use hunting and fishing. The Raptor was cheaper than getting a regular F150 with the stuff I wanted on it and even then had better capabilities.

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Sage, what specific kit did you buy and from where? It looks like I will have standard running weight of 7200 lbs, so I am very interested in getting some air bags to level the truck.

The Company was SD Truck Springs.

You remove the factory bump stop and also the frame kit if you have one. The top mount uses those three holes. Bottom mount just clamps over the spring. Mine did raise the rear around 2" with minimum air to keep it from hitting the internal bump stop. I ran around 15-16lbs but I also carry at least 3-400 lbs in the bed at all times.